Candidate accused of Islamophobia in 2019 stands for Reform UK under different name
By Sam Doak, OSINT producer
A former Brexit Party candidate is running for Reform UK under a different name, following accusations of Islamophobia in 2019.
Dionne Moore Cocozza is now running in Glasgow West as Dionne Moore, using her middle name as a surname. No details on Reform UK’s website link the candidate to the 2019 race.
The Reform UK candidate previously stood for the Brexit Party, later rebranded as Reform UK, in Glasgow North under the name Dionne Cocozza, receiving 320 votes.
Ms Cocozza’s candidacy in the 2019 election drew attention after the University of Glasgow’s student newspaper and Hope Not Hate reported on her social media use.
At the time, she wrote on social media that Muslims wanted to institute Sharia law in a post viewed by Sky News.
According to the anti-racism advocacy group Hope Not Hate, Ms Cocozza has also said on social media “you can’t say anything if you’re white”, and accused Labour’s shadow minister David Lammy of stoking racism with “anti-white tweets”.
She also shared a post written by another user, viewed by Sky News, which made the claim, “I heard a muslim say, we get elected then slowly we takeover”.
Sky News was unable to find any other instances in which Ms Cocozza has opted to use the name “Dionne Moore” in public, and she has not drawn attention to her candidacy on social media.
Reform UK’s regional manager for Scotland, Martyn Greene, confirmed the candidate is the same person who ran in 2019.
The party has said it is consulting lawyers about suing the company it paid £144,000 to vet candidates.
Chairman Richard Tice said the firm, Vetting.com, “promised a deep dive, particularly on social media”, but has “delivered absolutely nothing”.
However, Reform UK does not believe the vast majority of candidates who have been singled-out by the media for things they have said on social media have done anything wrong.
Also standing in Glasgow West are:
- James Calder, Liberal Democrats;
- James Cormack, Christian Party;
- Patricia Ferguson, Labour;
- Faten Hameed, Conservative;
- Carol Monaghan, SNP;
- Nick Quail, Scottish Greens.
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